BU staff nominated as a part of Ada Lovelace celebration
To commemorate Ada Lovelace Day, 12 October 2021, Heads of Department at Bournemouth University were asked to nominate colleagues who are leading in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM).
Ada Lovelace Day is held each year as a celebration of the achievements of women in STEM. The event is named after Ada Byron, The Countess of Lovelace, who is often regarded as the first computer programmer for her work in machine programming.
A list of nominees can be found below, with an interview with each nominee available each day this week on the Research Blog.
Nominees:
Professor Wen Tang, Professor of Games Technology, was nominated by Fred Charles, Acting Head of the Creative Technology Department.
Fred Charles said, “Wen has been in the department for several years but, throughout her career as an academic in Computer Science, she has been able to provide leadership and mentoring of staff and students in the many areas of Mathematical Modelling, Algorithmics, Physics in Simulations, Computer Games Programming, Virtual and Augmented Reality. She has been inspiring through her teaching and research work through funded research projects which have led to many solutions generating impact on the wider society.”
Melanie Coles was nominated by Vegard Engen, Deputy Head of the Department of Computing and Informatics.
Vegard Engen said, “Melanie is one of the most experienced, knowledgeable and pragmatic problem solvers we have in the department, often being a key person both academic and professional support staff reach out to if they have a problem. She speaks her mind clearly and continuously champions gender equality and challenges gender stereotypes through her leadership role, teaching and AthenaSWAN contributions.”
Dr Michele Board, Dr Sue Green and Dr Vanessa Heaslip were nominated by Steven Ersser, Head of Department and Professor of Nursing and Dermatology Care.
Professor Ersser said, “I would like to nominate my three Deputy Heads all of whom are Associate Professors on route to professor, and leaders with recognition in their health care fields, specifically nursing and their respective sub-clinical scientific fields below. It is hard to choose among them. They are all amazing leaders in their clinical scientific field”
Professor Jane Murphy, Dr Rebecca Neal and Dr Amanda Wilding were nominated by Susan Dewhurst, Head of the Department of Rehabilitation and Sports Sciences.
Susan Dewhurst said, “Jane’s research has direct impact in practice through her clinical lead role in the Wessex Academic Health Science Network. She influences high standards in education and practice in her role as an elected council member for the Association for Nutrition and is a recognised mentor.
“Rebecca contributes greatly to transferring her research finding to the end user, through public engagement events, magazine articles and podcasts aimed at raising the awareness of the issues and needs of individuals exercising in extreme environments.
“Amanda works as a Sports Psychologist in professional male football and Army rugby. Her involvement working in male dominated sports lead to her being invited to lead a workshop on Women in Sport to women at the Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University in Saudi Arabia.”
Dr Roya Haratian was nominated by Diogo Montalvao, Deputy Head Of Department Design And Engineering.
Diogo Montalvao said, “Roya has led the department’s submission to Athena Swan and has championed the Women in Engineering Society at BU which was launched in 2019. Her contribution to raising the profile of women in Engineering at BU has therefore been of upmost importance. She is our ‘in-house specialist’ in a range of fields that are traditionally dominated by men, namely mechatronics, machine learning and artificial intelligence, with applications to biomechanics, hence she also serves a bridging function to making other disciplines communicating together in what is required for meeting BU2025 aspirations.”
